Environment: Hueneme, New York/New Jersey

Port of Hueneme Honored with Environmental Stewardship Award

The Ventura County Board of Supervisors recently presented the county’s 2017 Earth Day Award for Excellence in Environmental Stewardship to the Port of Hueneme. The award was accepted by Oxnard Harbor District Commissioner Mary Anne Rooney and Port Director & CEO Kristin Decas.

"The port’s longstanding tradition is to embrace the environmental values held by the residents of Ventura County and the communities we serve," said Commissioner Rooney. "It certainly takes a village to succeed and we are grateful for the partners we have in the County, the collaborative processes we share, and are honored by this special recognition today."

In 2012, the port adopted a series of strategic initiatives that included air and water quality, protection of marine resources, healthy soil and sediment, and climate change adaptation. This "Environmental Management Framework" established long and short term objectives as well as evaluation strategies.

With funding assistance from the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District, the port is installing electrical vehicle charging stations in publicly accessible areas. Port installed cold ironing facilities allow berth ships to plug in to shore-side power rather than run diesel auxiliary engines while at berth. The port is saving energy and money by purchasing electricity at off peak hours and storing it in large battery packs on port for use during peak hours.  It is also erecting prototypes of LED lighting structures to increase efficiency.

A recent operational priority is to produce zero waste. Additionally, the port is partnering with the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC), which recently completed a study of invasive species that arrive at the port (usually on the hulls of cargo ships) and their impact on the native ecology.

The port has been an accredited member of the Green Marine program for two years.

Reaffirming the port’s commitment, Ms. Decas said: "Our pursuit of strong and active environmental policies and programs will continue to be integral to the day-to-day operations of the Port of Hueneme."

New York/New Jersey: New Port Environmental Projects Highlight Earth Day 2017

To mark the celebration of Earth Day 2017, the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey on April 18 announced two environmental initiatives to supplement existing programs aimed at reducing emissions and improving air quality around the Port of New York and New Jersey.

The first is a demonstration project with GCT New York and APM Terminals to retrofit two yard tractors for each facility with auto stop-start hybrid technology. Yard tractors account for the largest number of on-terminal vehicles in the port and produce 33 percent of all cargo-handling equipment emissions. The port authority will reimburse each terminal up to $72,000 for the costs of the retrofits, which are expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 25 percent.

The one-year demonstration project will include the collection of monitoring data from the retrofitted yard tractors, which will be used by the port authority to evaluate the performance of the stop-start systems, operational savings, air emissions reductions and commercial viability of the technology.

"With larger vessels and increased container volumes handled in shorter timeframes, the need to identify and implement more environmentally sustainable terminal operating procedures and equipment has become increasingly important here at the Port of NY & NJ, and elsewhere, and we are glad to play a leading role in this pilot project to increase fuel efficiency, and reduce emissions while expanding our services to customers," said APM Terminals Port Elizabeth Managing Director Brian Clark. "Over the last two years, APM Terminals has replaced 132 container yard trucks with new models. We have also replaced a large percentage of our top loader and empty handler fleet with the latest, more efficient engines."

The port authority also will sponsor a four-week demonstration project of zero-emission cargo handling equipment at the Red Hook Container Terminal in Brooklyn to explore the air emissions reductions and the ability to operate zero emission vehicles in a container terminal environment. The pilot project began April 24.

Since 2006, following the implementation of several major environmental initiatives, the port has realized a 65-percent reduction in particulate matter, and a 24-percent reduction in nitrogen oxides emissions despite a 25 percent increase in cargo volume. These seaport environmental initiatives earned the Port Authority the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Northeast Diesel Collaborative’s Breathe Easy Leadership Award in 2012.

 Earlier milestone environmental initiatives:

• GCT Bayonne rolled out a new truck management system, or "appointment system," in January that is designed to improve productivity and terminal capacity while working to decrease emissions.

• The port authority launched a cargo-handling equipment fleet modernization program in fourth quarter 2016. The federally funded program will incentivize the replacement of 100 pieces of equipment with all electric, hybrid, alternative energy powered, or the cleanest Tier IV engine.

• As of March 1, 2016, only trucks equipped with cleaner engines that meet or exceed federal EPA emission standards for heavy duty diesel-fueled engines are permitted to complete RFID registration to service the seaport.

• The port authority continues to support the truck replacement program. The program is funded by port authority, Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement (CMAQ), and Diesel Emission Reduction Act (DERA) funds. The combined $8 million in funds aims to replace older trucks with newer, more efficient trucks that are at least 90 percent cleaner in terms of tailpipe emission.

"Our goal is to balance the need to efficiently and effectively #deliverthegoods within our port facilities, as well as to its destination, while continuing to be good environmental stewards to the communities that surround our port facilities," said Port Department Director Molly Campbell., PPM®. "These new programs will supplement other major initiatives we have in place that address emissions reductions and air quality for those who live and work in the port community."